Sad news: The head coach of the Miami Dolphins shed tears as two of his best players made a final decision to terminate their contracts.

Sad news: The head coach of the Miami Dolphins shed tears as two of his best players made a final decision to terminate their contracts.

Sad news: Two of the Miami Dolphins‘ greatest players have decided to end their contracts, causing the head coach to cry.

With a number of important roster decisions to make as the Miami Dolphins go into a busy offseason, Tua Tagovailoa’s contract, which he is about to enter his last rookie season of, will probably take precedence.

News reporters were informed by head coach Mike McDaniel that he is “very encouraged” by the way negotiations between Tagovailoa and the team are going:

The Dolphins may reduce Tagovailoa’s cap number for the following year if he signs an extension. They are currently $28.5 million over the salary cap before free agency and the draft, so they have work to do before they are cap-compliant.

In 2023, Tagovailoa experienced his finest season to date. With 4,624 passing yards, 29 touchdown passes (tied for eighth), and a 69.3% completion rate, he led the NFL.

The aspect of Tagovailoa’s performance that gave me the most hope was his resilience. For the first time since he was a sophomore at Alabama in 2018, he started every game in a season.

As the season progressed, Tagovailoa’s performance decreased. Weeks 1 through 8 saw him throw for 2,416 yards, 18 touchdowns, seven interceptions, and a 70.4 completion percentage.

He completed 68.2 percent of his passes for 2,208 yards, 11 touchdowns, and seven interceptions in the last nine games of the regular season.

The three games Miami played to close up the season, which included a playoff loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, will not be on Tagovailoa’s highlight reel. In those five games—all losses—he threw five interceptions.

Against the Chiefs, the Dolphins had two drives that gained more than thirty yards. In the game, their final nine possessions ended in three punts, three down-field blunders, the end of the first half, and the game.

At the team’s end-of-season press conference on January 15, general manager Chris Grier informed the media that they would “continue to communicate with him through the offseason here” and that the objective was to keep Tagovailoa “here long-term, playing at a high level.”

Since McDaniel’s arrival, Tagovailoa has started for Miami for the past two seasons, going 19-11. The Dolphins had advanced to the postseason in each of the previous two seasons; however, a concussion prevented him from participating in the AFC Wild Card Game in 2022 against the Buffalo Bills.

In the previous offseason, Miami exercised Tagovailoa’s rookie contract for a fifth year. In 2024, his income of $23.2 million is certain.